Diamondbacks Add Boxberger To Bullpen Mix

The Rays avoided giving a raise to an oft-injured player on Thursday when they traded former All-Star closer Brad Boxberger to the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor league righhander Curtis Taylor.

Boxberger missed the first half of the 2017 season with a right flexor strain, his second straight year missing significant time to injury. With a raise coming his way as a second-year arbitration-eligible player, the Rays elected to trade him for a young pitching prospect.

The Diamondbacks drafted Taylor in the fourth round out of Canada in 2016 and he made 13 effective starts in his first full season before going down with a right shoulder impingement. Taylor went 3-4, 3.32 with 68 strikeouts and 23 walks in 62.1 innings for the Cougars, but did not pitch after July 13. Taylor is a physical presence at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds and sits 92-96 mph on his fastball with plus sink. He flashes a plus slider but lacks a third pitch, with his changeup fringy at-best. Taylor also pitches with a max-effort delivery. That delivery, his two-pitch mix and health concerns make him a future reliever for most evaluators, although a potential late-inning one.

Boxberger saved 41 games and was an All-Star in 2015 before injuries derailed his ascent. He had core muscle surgery before the 2016 season that cost him two months and then missed two more months with a lat strain. He then had his flexor strain this season. Boxberger hasn’t pitched more than 30 innings in either of the last two years, and last season was 4-4, 3.38 with 40 strikeouts and 11 walks in 29.1 innings. He will slot into the D-backs bullpen immediately and try to stay healthy enough to hold down a late-inning role.